2008 Superleague Formula season

2008 Superleague Formula
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Olympiacos CFP (Kasper Andersen) at Superleague Formula Round 1

Galatasaray S.K. (Alessandro Pier Guidi) at Superleague Formula Round 1

The 2008 Superleague Formula season was the inaugural Superleague Formula championship. The season started very late in 2008 with the first round being on August 31 at Donington Park. There were six rounds (twelve races) in total with the successful season finale at Circuito Permanente de Jerez on 23 November. In the 18 cars on the grid were established A1GP and GP2 drivers as well as two ex-Formula One race starters, Robert Doornbos and Antônio Pizzonia.

Beijing Guoan, run under former Formula One team Zakspeed with driver Davide Rigon, were eventually crowned the first ever champions at the last event of the season.

Teams and drivers

• All teams competed on Michelin tyres.

Entrant	Race team	No.	Race driver(s)	Rounds
A.C. Milan[1]	Scuderia Playteam[1]	3	Robert Doornbos[2]	All
Galatasaray S.K.[1]		4	Alessandro Pier Guidi[1]	All
PSV Eindhoven[1]	Azerti Motorsport[3][4]	5	Yelmer Buurman[3]	All
Al Ain[1]		6	Andreas Zuber[5]	1–2
			Bertrand Baguette[6]	3, 6
			Paul Meijer	4
			Dominick Muermans[7]	5
CR Flamengo[1]	Team Astromega[1]	7	Tuka Rocha[5]	All
R.S.C. Anderlecht[1]		8	Craig Dolby[8]	All
Olympiacos CFP[1]	GU-Racing International[1]	9	Kasper Andersen[9]	1–4
			Stamatis Katsimis[10]	5–6
FC Basel 1893[1]		10	Max Wissel[1]	All
Borussia Dortmund[1]	Zakspeed[1]	11	Nelson Philippe[5]	1–2
			Paul Meijer[6]	3
			Enrico Toccacelo	4–5
			James Walker	6
Beijing Guoan[1]		12	Davide Rigon[5]	All
SC Corinthians[1]	EuroInternational[1]	14	Andy Soucek[5]	1
			Antônio Pizzonia[11]	2–6
Atlético Madrid[12]		15	Andy Soucek[12]	2–6
F.C. Porto[1]	Alan Docking Racing[13]	16	Tristan Gommendy[14]	1–4
Rangers F.C.[1]		17	Ryan Dalziel[15]	1, 3–6
			James Walker[16]	2
Sevilla FC[1]	GTA Motor Competición[17]	18	Borja García[17]	All
Tottenham Hotspur[18]		19	Duncan Tappy[5]	1–3, 5–6
			Dominik Jackson	4
F.C. Porto[19]	Hitech Junior Team[20]	16	Tristan Gommendy[14]	5–6
Liverpool F.C.		21	Adrián Vallés[21]	All
A.S. Roma[1]	FMS International[1]	22	Enrico Toccacelo[1]	1–3
			Franck Perera	4–6

• No numbers 1 or 2 because it was the first season.
• Cars 16 and 17 were run by Team West-Tec during pre-season.
• Atlético Madrid did not enter until prior to round 2.
• FC Porto switched from Alan Docking Racing to Hitech Racing prior round 5.

Test/reserve drivers

Driver	Driver
Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Bruce Jouanny
Jimmy Auby[22]	Robbie Kerr[23]
Zsolt Baumgartner	Paolo Maria Nocera
Enrique Bernoldi	Giacomo Ricci[1]
Dan Clarke[22]	Daniel la Rosa[1]
Giambattista Giannoccaro	Jason Tahincioglu[23]
Jan Heylen	Nico Verdonck[23]
Jens Höing[24]	Andreas Wirth[25]

2008 Schedule

Race calendar and results

Round		Race	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Club	Winning Team	Report
1	R1	Donington Park	August 31	Beijing Guoan	Beijing Guoan	Beijing Guoan	Zakspeed	Report
	R2				PSV Eindhoven	Sevilla FC	GTA Motor Competición
2	R1	Nürburgring	September 21	A.C. Milan	PSV Eindhoven	A.C. Milan	Scuderia Playteam	Report
	R2				SC Corinthians	PSV Eindhoven	Azerti Motorsport
3	R1	Zolder	October 5	Borussia Dortmund	Liverpool F.C.	Liverpool F.C.	Hitech Junior Team	Report
	R2				Atlético Madrid	Beijing Guoan	Zakspeed
4	R1	Estoril	October 19	A.S. Roma	Atlético Madrid	Liverpool F.C.	Hitech Junior Team	Report
	R2				Borussia Dortmund	Al Ain	Azerti Motorsport
5	R1	Vallelunga	November 2	Liverpool F.C.	Beijing Guoan	Beijing Guoan	Zakspeed	Report
	R2				Atlético Madrid	F.C. Porto	Hitech Junior Team
6	R1	Jerez	November 23	Liverpool F.C.	R.S.C. Anderlecht	A.C. Milan	Scuderia Playteam	Report
	R2				Beijing Guoan	Borussia Dortmund	Zakspeed

• Race 2 starts with reverse grid from finishing order of Race 1.

Test calendar and results

• The first group test was at Vallelunga, Italy and ran from August 6–8. Scuderia Playteam were the fastest team on all three days with drivers Robert Doornbos and Alessandro Pier Guidi putting in the fast laps, for the clubs they would later go on to race for.^[1][23][26] Prior to the opening round, two test sessions at Donington Park, UK on August 21 and 28 further helped the cars and it was the combination of FMS International and Enrico Toccacelo for A.S. Roma who were fastest on both occasions.^[27][28]

Championship standings

Pos Entrant Drivers DON NÜR ZOL EST VAL JER Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1 Beijing Guoan Davide Rigon 1 6 5 3 17 1 5 5 1 5 9 3 413 2 PSV Eindhoven Yelmer Buurman 4 8 10 1 7 3 9 8 10 3 8 9 337 3 A.C. Milan Robert Doornbos 17 DN 1 6 18 4 2 2 2 17 1 10 335 4 Liverpool F.C. Adrián Vallés 5 3 14 14 1 6 1 12 9 4 7 15 325 5 A.S. Roma Enrico Toccacelo 2 10 17 4 13 7 307 Franck Perera 3 16 15 2 5 5 6 R.S.C. Anderlecht Craig Dolby 14 16 2 2 2 16 14 9 7 6 4 8 303 7 F.C. Porto Tristan Gommendy 7 9 8 5 6 15 16 DN 8 1 2 12 277 8 Galatasaray S.K. Alessandro Pier Guidi 13 13 3 7 14 12 7 3 3 11 18 4 277 9 SC Corinthians Andy Soucek 11 12 264 Antônio Pizzonia 7 10 10 18 4 4 6 16 12 2 10 Sevilla FC Borja García 10 1 6 8 16 8 8 7 17 13 6 11 262 11 Tottenham Hotspur Duncan Tappy 3 5 13 17 12 2 11 10 3 14 257 Dominik Jackson 15 11 12 Al Ain Andreas Zuber 6 15 11 11 244 Bertrand Baguette 11 10 10 7 Paul Meijer 12 1 Dominick Muermans 14 8 13 Rangers F.C. Ryan Dalziel 8 14 8 17 13 15 5 7 15 6 227 James Walker 4 12 14 Borussia Dortmund Nelson Philippe 15 4 15 DN 218 Paul Meijer 3 11 Enrico Toccacelo 17 6 18 14 James Walker 14 1 15 FC Basel 1893 Max Wissel 9 7 9 13 4 5 18 14 12 15 11 17 205 16 CR Flamengo Tuka Rocha 16 2 16 16 9 14 11 10 4 18 17 13 189 17 Olympiacos CFP Kasper Andersen 12 11 12 15 15 9 10 13 161 Stamatis Katsimis 13 9 13 16 18 Atlético Madrid Andy Soucek DN 9 5 13 6 17 16 12 16 18 132 Pos Entrant Drivers R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 Pts DON NÜR ZOL EST VAL JER

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Finished Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify (X) Black Disqualified (DQ) White Did not start (DN) Race cancelled (C) Blank Excluded (EX) Withdrew (WD) Bold Pole position Italics Fastest lap NOTE – R2 starts with reverse grid

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	DNS
Points	50	45	40	36	32	29	26	23	20	18	16	14	12	10	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	0

References

1. English, Steven (7 August 2008). "Doornbos tops first Superleague test". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
2. English, Steven (22 May 2008). "Doornbos joins Superleague series". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
3. English, Steven (20 August 2008). "Buurman to race for PSV Eindhoven". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
4. PSV Eindhoven article on official Superleague site
5. "Final race seats for SLF". Superleague Formula. 28 August 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
6. "Baguette, Meijer join Superleague". autosport.com. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
7. "Muermans to make debut".
8. Harby, Chris (28 August 2008). "Dolby signs for Anderlecht". Melton Times. Johnston Press Digital Publishing. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
9. Carøe, Mikkel (26 August 2008). "Dansker skal køre for Olympiakos". TV 2 (in Danish). Retrieved 30 August 2008.
10. "Stamatis replacing Andersen" (in Greek).
11. Pergler, David (29 August 2008). "Das Starterfeld der Superleague Formula". Motorsport-Total (in German). Retrieved 30 August 2008.
12. "Madrid confirmed for Nurburgring with Soucek" (in Spanish).
13. "Tristan Gommendy: Estamos no meio de lado nenhum". AutoSport (in Portuguese). 22 September 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
14. English, Steven (22 August 2008). "Gommendy to drive FC Porto car". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
15. English, Steven (13 August 2008). "Dalziel signs up for Superleague". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
16. "Walker on loan to Rangers". Superleague Formula. Superleague Formula. 10 September 2008. Archived from the original on September 11, 2008. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
17. English, Steven (20 August 2008). "Sevilla confirm Garcia for Superleague". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
18. English, Steven (6 August 2008). "Tottenham join Superleague series". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
19. FC Porto press-release announcement
20. "Philippe Set for Liverpool Drive". Autosport. 193 (8): 21. August 2008.
21. English, Steven (25 August 2008). "Valles to race with Liverpool". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
22. EZ Systems. "Race for Superleague Formula seats hots up at Donington". Superleague Formula. Archived from the original on 23 July 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
23. English, Steven; van de Burgt, Andrew (7 August 2008). "Doornbos quickest again at Vallelunga". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
24. IMS Reporter. "Jens Höing rejoins the Formula Two line-up". Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 17 May 2009.
25. "Untitled Document". Team Astromega. Archived from the original on 23 July 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
26. http://www.superleagueformula.com/superleague/News-Media/News-archive/Galatasaray-tops-the-timesheet
27. http://www.superleagueformula.com/superleague/News-Media/News-archive/Race-for-SF-seats-hots-up-at-Donington
28. http://www.superleagueformula.com/superleague/News-Media/News-archive/Roma-tops-the-timesheet-in-final-Superleague-Formula-testing

External links

• Superleague Formula Official Website
• V12 Racing: Independent Superleague Formula Fansite Magazine